The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-06-18
KATE CHASE SPRAGUE.
The Beautiful MatrOn'S AfectiOnatc
Meeting with Her Injudicious Son.
[Brooklyn Eagle.l

brooklyn Eagle.l
The other day well-dressed, hand
some woman, with the unmistakable
peared in the back room of New
York Office, and after . few moments
q boy came in from the mechanical de
partment with which the Office is con :.
nected. He was a good-lookiug, stall
wart youth, but srimmed with his
work, his hands black and hard, his
red flannel shirt sleeves rolled up to the
elbow, and a leather apron tied about
his waist. They-the woman and the
boy-were evidently glad to see one
another: she called him tWillie," and
throwing her arms about his neck,
kissed him half dozen times, after
she sat for half an hour holding his
hand and talking to him in Il low
tone. 1t was time for him to go back
to his work then, and SO they kissed
again and separated. The clerks in the
front office were much interested in
the little scene, and one of them re-
marked 81 don't doubt il we knew
the real story of these two it would DO
romance more strange than any in n
novel;. They were the grandson and
the daughter of Chief Justice Salmon
p. Chase. Kate Chase was probably
during the civil war the most iBfluen-
tiul woman in this country. Mrs. Lin
coin, being such an impossible sort of
person, oil the socisl side of politics
conferred at the house Of her father.
One must have lived in Washington
to realize what a profound influence
is said that the handsome, brilliant,
ambitious girl who ruled the Chase
salon had more to do with the making
and unmaking of Generals on the
Potomac than people now dream. La.
ter on, too, unIer the Grant sdminis-
tration, when she was the wife of the
Millionaire Governor and the friend
of the Senator from New York, she
ielded more power than any woman
in the country. Now she lives in
Washington, in, what Is to her, pow
erty, without influence or place in the
social world she once ruled, and sur.
rounded only with a shadow of all her
past splendor. She devotes her time
to raising roses aud experimenting her
daughter Etnel's education, who in-
herits none of her beauty, but much of
her iUteliect. a great cause Of distress
to her has been her sOn Willie. When
she was divorced from her husband
the courts awarded the boy to his
father, and at that time lad of only
ten or twelve, he took sides against
her. He was allowed to run wild
about Narragansett-was solitary,
grave boy until his father persuaded
him into marriage with his second
wli>'a sister. 1t was not long otter
that the boy awoke TO sense of what
he had, and he instantly fled, appeal
Ing at the same time to his mother,
who was abroad. She forgave at once
the position he had taken rs n child,
and returned from Europe to see what
she could do fos him. She Was too
straitened in means to support him,
and he worked for awhile as fireman
for an engine. Latterly friends have
secured him Il place where his natural
turn for mechanics is OF use to him,
and he is doing well, though the cons
rades who work alongside OF him
have no suspicion of his identity. His
mothe cOmesr over from Washington
to see him occasionally, aud it is under
her udvics he is now suing for a di-
vorce from the woman he was entrap-
ped into wedding.